


What we are

by Griffinous56



Series: HK ABOverse that no one asked for [6]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Getting to Know Each Other, I problaly won't be able to finish this unless I have help, Let these characters swear 2019, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, No beta we die like Pale Wyrm, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pack Bonding, Pack Dynamics, Pack Family, Please Kill Me, Post-Game(s), Recovery, Slow Burn, Top tier garbage food, Trust, Written when I was high on caffein and sugar so don't expect much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 09:39:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18962656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griffinous56/pseuds/Griffinous56
Summary: Or in which an unsuspecting omega makes their appearance when Hallownest is still recovering from the ordeal and issues occur.





	What we are

**Author's Note:**

> What do you mean I write the beginning of this series when they're about to have kids ahaha that's silly- *gag your mouth*

When it happened, nobody was prepared enough. To be honest, no one would ever be prepared enough for anything when Hallownest was still recovering from the plague.

 

Maybe that’s what make this so much a disaster in the first place. Because who would have thought that a vessel could have caste like them bugs  _ and  _ go into heat. Especially the one who had been locked up in the temple for ages with body heavily damaged beyond the point of full recovery. 

 

Said Vessel was leaning against the wall on one side of the room, their remaining hand across their midsection as their head hung low, shoulders hunching over as they heaved for each shaky breathe they took. In this position, they would still posed as a looming and intimidating figure if not for the bright flush on their body and the inviting sweet smell emitting from them, getting sweeter and sweeter as seconds ticked by. And to say they were leaning wasn’t accurate either, more like they were laying down in a vertical fashion, pressing flush against the cold hard wall.

 

Not that the scent could do anything to him, Quirrel mussed quietly from his side of the room, back leaning against the door. He was a beta, so omega stuffs had no power over him like it did with alpha. 

 

It must be, should be, right?

 

Quirrel took in breath to calm his nerves, accidentally inhaled more of those omega pheromones in the air and he almost choked, slightly lifted his mask to rub his face. The scent was thicker, much thicker than before that he almost suffocated from it, could tasted it despite all those lit incenses around the room he had managed to scarvanged. Those contained powder and dry herbs meant for soothing and relaxation. Quirrel took in his surround again.

 

Two jars had burnt out. Which meant more than two hours had passed. Great.

 

The Hollow Knight turned their head to look at him. And shuddered, so strong and violent he could heard how their frame rattled with it.

 

The inviting scent in the air got thicker and Quirrel wanted to bang his head on the door and because he was a beta that said something. As if on cue, the metal door shook like something, more like someone, collided into it. He placed his bet on those heavy armored sentries, leaking heavy alpha pheromones. Well, all of those sentries were alpha, aren’t that wonderful?

 

He felt sorry for anyone, especially alphas, who were being affected by this overwhelming sweet scent. If he was having this bad, then their situation with their corresponding rut must be miserable. 

 

And the former schooler was remind of how they were stuck in one of the few building that wasn’t being renovated with functional lock in the City of Tears. Cornered by hundreds of bugs, and most of them are alphas. And because he now remembering their problems, he also remembered how they got into this situation in the first place.

 

What was in that omega head leading them to decide to walk the streets when they were about to go into heat was anybody guess. Quirrel just knew that Ghost and their sibling were accompanied him to a meeting with Queen Hornet in the City. But when they’ve just got out of King’s Station and into the raining streets, bugs around them started to sniff the air as the Hollow Knight’s suddenly buckled and collapsed. First moment, both of them were trying to figure out what was happening, the next almost everybody proceeded to dog pile the Hollow Knight. Who had promptly gathered their strength to scoop both Quirrel and Ghost up into their arm and teleported a short distance away. And a distance away mean into the Pleasure House where it had a proper lock.

 

_ “You, get in the water.” Quirrel said pointedly for the grownups vessel who was shifting awardly on their legs, mind frantically recalling his knowledge about omega in heat. “Ghost, can you go get Hornet and get some help? I’ll here with them and guard the door in case anyone get in.” _

 

_ Because even though he was a beta that didn’t mean he didn’t know what was that scent waffling through the air now all of them were in close proximity. Said culprits for that was shaking in their place as they collapsed again. The smell got stronger and if Quirrel didn’t have a build in organ needed to scent and marking an omega, he was pretty convinced that he had developed one just now judging on how he could basically  _ taste  _ thick pheromones in the air on the back of his tongue. _

 

_ Ghost curtly nodded, then zoomed through the door right before he locked it. Rubbing a palm on his face, Quirrel began to recall all his knowledge about dealing with a presenting omega situation. _

 

And somehow between now and then, they’ve figured that apparently, others could get in through a hole on top of the building after a few confrontations with some mender bug tendering the the elevator. And so Quirrel had carried a feverish vessel into a room and blocked the door with any furnitures he could found, which was nothing except for a bed and a wardrobe too big for him to push.

 

Maybe that wasn’t a good idea, now that he thought about it. Maybe he should have made a break for it and risk carrying the Hollow Knight to another building that had no breach in security. Because even though there was a risk in having them being mounted by addled minds rut driven feral bugs, he wouldn’t suffer from suffocating from the thick and potent pheromones in the air, because this room is a small room.

 

Small enough for him to cover the distance in a few strives if he wanted to go to them.

 

Quirrel bang his head not too softly on the metal door, and groaned. Determinedly fixing his eyes on the patterns engraved on the door, a small lamp, a perfectly queen size bed between them. Anywhere but the vessel who, judging by the scent alone, was pretty far gone. 

 

The Hollow Knight broke their gaze on him to hunch lower. The flushes got darker and breathes definitely got harsher as another cramp went through them. A wave of fluid broke out of their slit to slide down their legs and the Hollow Knight shivered as their slide down the wall, half laying on the carpet floor.

 

Taking into account of the omega pheromones in the air, Quirrel reminded himself that he wasn’t attracted to it. He was a beta so no, Gods no. 

 

Who would have thought that the Hollow Knight, under the cracked and dark shell and strong demeanor, beat the heart of an omega. Not casteless, not alpha, or beta. An omega.

 

Not that he had anything against omega, mind you. He knew some from his days wandering in the wasteland beyond, and all of them were great. They were nurturing and caring and oh so sweet. 

 

The Hollow Knight would be the first fully grownups and lucid omega Hallownest had in ages at that. Went into presenting, a perfect phrase for mating because omega conceived the most offsprings when they first go into heat.

 

...Were they presenting? Unlike alphas and especially omegas who have accurate sense of smell, beta like him couldn’t say so much from a scent, and for that he couldn’t tell if this was their first heat or not. He hoped it was. 

 

Quirrel didn’t know whether or not could Vessels product offspring of other bugs and he would rather not to venture too far into that.

 

He really should have noticed the signs. Of how sluggish and unfocus they had been since this morning, how they would bare their neck more often, tilting their head to a side, unconsciously baring their neck like a offering. And the most obvious of all was the sweet scent that smelled like rain and cinnamon, like those beautiful flowers in Queen’s Garden, earthy and refreshing.

 

Ah yes, the sweet smell. Quirrel wasn’t to blame because he was a beta damnit all for his caste inability to scent when he needed to. He smelt it when all of them were traveling on the old stag and he brushed it off as florals fragrance that was starting to bloom in those tunnels.

 

A scratching sound pulled Quirrel out of his thought and he jumped, standing up and looking alarmingly around the room as he putted his hand on the nail handle, hanging around his waist. When he saw no one, Quirrel sighed and started to sit down again, and unintentionally looked at the vessel sitting across from him.

 

He found he couldn’t pull his gaze away as he stared at how the Hollow Knight squirming weakly on their spot, legs scratching against the floor, even though his mind was screaming at how for how wrong it was to look at your liege like that. They were lying on the floor now, legs splaying apart as they tried to push their back against the wall. They had took off their cloak a few moments ago and okay it was understandable, seeing how one could be roasted alive when their body felt like it was on fire, the flush on their body shifting from uncomfortable to  miserable.

 

Quirrel could see their swelling scent glands around their neck, and he gulped down a lump in his throat.

 

The Hollow Knight shuddered as a heat wave thundered through them, their entrance gushing out more slick as their body prepared itself for mating. The scorching feeling enveloped their body is foreign and they didn’t know what to do when their legs shaking from the intensity of their heat. Their inside cramped and it ached so much, felt  _ so empty  _ as their inner walls clenching down on nothing and they didn’t know what to do about it. Could only rubbed their hand on their midsection and pressing down on their lower stomach as a wave of slick gushed out of them again in confusion, head felt foggy and light.

 

The Hollow Knight jerked harshly and shuddered when their palm rubbing their crotch accidentally, fingertips slightly dipping into their slit. Their feverish mind suddenly filled with the urge to fill themself with something. Carving for a heat on top of them. Want to fill their inside with something but what was it, _what was it_ _why there was no alpha here, no provider here they thought their scent had reached some of them—._

 

They lolled their head to a side, and shivered.

 

Quirrel snapped his gaze away when he noticed he was trailing his eyes down to between their legs, where their slit was fully bloomed and looked so wet and soft. The former schooler rattled frantically at the floor at the thought. The mild pain in his hand help.

 

They noticed the sound and lifted their head to look at him, though the gaze was unfocused, seemed to carry a flame in it.

 

Quirrel gulped. “Uh…”  _ Think of something, damnit,  _ “Bath! Buddy, how about I go out to do a quick check up? I then can take you to the hot spring if it’s clear.”

 

The gaze was still there, as if scrutinizing, leaning toward him.

 

_ Focus Quirrel, focus _ . “The heat help. And you can wash up at the same time.”

 

Silence. Not even a twitch or a sign that they heard him, almost as if they had turned into stone. “Big buddy?”

 

“...Hollow Knight?”

 

No response, head hung lower as they shivered, their gaze daze all over. Then a brief moment when they curtly shook their head.

 

Here but not here. Losing out to the heat-haze.

 

There were stories, of course, of how bad heat-haze could be, especially when they were presenting. Omega hormones changed as it redesigned itself to draw in alphas, betas and even omegas alike. Omegas literally begging anyone they could find to mate with them, reduced to pure instinct alone no matter how brilliant they mind could be.

 

Suddenly, the Hollow Knight knocked their head back against the wall, their horns scraped against the stone wall as their chest heave, claws scratching the floor. Looked like they were trying to rein themself in. But for what…

 

When Quirrel realized what they were trying to do, he unceremoniously slapped himself, trying hard to look anywhere but them, fighting down the instinct in him to mimic what they had tried to do earlier - _cross the distance, there’s an omega right_ there, _there’s no provider who can add them_ _and no one can get in your way._ Trying so hard to fight down the insistent tug of arousal that is getting more and more insistent as the smell getting stronger, muskier and more seductive…

 

His other instinct, the lucid and rational of him obeyed the omega wish, protected the fertile omega that was clearly in distress, won out. He hoped it would stay that way.

 

A soundless sound creaked out of their head when the Hollow Knight shifted, seemed like they were moaning as they run their hand down their front. They tilted their head to a side, offering their neck. Their scent glands were secreting fluid now thought there wasn’t much, swelling and reflecting dim lanterns light, promised sweat mating bites of heavenly thick omega hormone. Of heady sensation of mating and breeding.

 

Quirrel bit the inside of his cheek, jumped whenever the vessel made a sudden motion. Something fizzed in his brain and tightened in his muscles and it wasn’t like sex ed he had had all those years ago hadn’t covered that either. Omega pheromones were designed to draw in anyone in the near vicinity after all. Heck, even those Fungals could walk in and scent them even though their kind didn’t even have a caste.

 

“Umm…” He tried to stir up a conversation again, voice scraping roughly against his dry throat. He coughed. That grabbed their attention at least.

 

“You know…” He started slowly, unsure how to phrase what he wanted to say. “There was this general idea of sticking an omega in somewhere private so they can do… whatever…”

 

Nothing, the Hollow Knight only tilted their head in confusion.

 

_ Oh higher Beings please have mercy. _ “I can slightly push the bed to your side and you can use it to… whatever. I mean you can still give yourself a hand right?”

 

That wasn’t the wisest crack nor was it his best one either, Quirrel wasn’t famous for those after all. And because of it, he regretted saying anything immediately when the Hollow Knight simply lifted their remaining hand to stare at it, and shuddered, their gaze so clear as if a lightbulb was lit in their mind.

 

“I’ll umm… I’ll turn my back…?” Why was he still talking? Why was he digging a hole for himself when now he knew they probably didn’t have any sexual instinct at all? It felt like he was guiding them to commit some sort of sin and he hoped little Ghost would forgive him for it.

 

The Hollow Knight didn’t bother to acknowledge him anymore, only hunched tighter.

 

Quirrel eyed the door. And winced.

 

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean like it sounded—“

 

The Hollow Knight shake their head, their claws digging the floor creating high pitched sounds -  _ so empty,  _ their mind echoed,  _ fill me _ \- and he almost whined. They hunched further, arm tighten around their midsection. Quirrel only had a few seconds to react when they crumbled onto the floor, chess plastered against the ground, hips raising and legs splaying apart beneath them, their hand went out of sight. Quirrel succeeded in turning around and banging his head on the door desperately when he noticed where their hand had disappeared to.

 

Quirrel shivered when he started to hear slick sounds behind him as the Hollow Knight rumbled as they furiously worked up themself, flushed and half-delirious, turned their face into the wall and bared their throat.

 

“Just… Tell me when you’re done.” It came out much breathless than he would like. He slammed his head again, focusing on crackle of pain and not… sounds coming from behind him. Or the smell that had getting much thicker and much more seductive than before. Impossibly potent and sweet. 

 

A high pitch sound like wind in a cave coming from behind and Quirrel absolutely refused to turn himself back.

 

“I swear I’m not looking.” He winced at the rough burr in his voice.

 

There came that sound again, barely a whisper but in this enclosed place, it so loud and sounded like right in his ear. He clenched his fist against the door.

 

What was Ghost doing anyway? Why was this taking the little grub so long?

 

“Ah shit,” he swore softly, and the insistent tug of arousal was getting a lot more insistent as the sounds of flesh against flesh filtered through the absolute silence of the room. Such a little room, his fevered brain reminded him, almost nothing at all compared to how fast he could travel. Even the Hollow Knight wouldn’t see him coming, and from the sounds of it, they were too busy to stop him if he did go over there.

 

He refused to think about all those things he could do if he was over there.

 

He thumped his head against the door again. A little pain never hurt anybody, and a mild concussion was preferable to all the ways the vessel could make his life a living hell.

 

Which, sadly, was pretty close to what the next couple of hours felt like. There they were, the Hollow Knight going nuts on their side of the room, Quirrel going insane on his, and a perfectly serviceable bed standing empty between them. Pain erupted whenever his head collided with the cold metal surface and honestly, that was a blessing in this situation, served as a prefect distraction.

 

Because if his mind ventured to what he could do if he was over there, then it would helpfully provided him avalanche of images: of the Hollow Knight’s scarred and cracked body, of their smooth, obsidian carapace stretched and spread out against the unforgiving floor of the sparsely furnished room. Thoughts of the Hollow Knight on knees, desperate to be taken; legs spread, wet and dilated and ready to be knotted.

 

He thought of how disappointed Madam would be if she was still here and of how Honest would throttled him for indignity, of how his fiancé was going to kill him. Hornet would kill him if she ever got a wind of this alright - and that cooled down the fire in him.

 

He was a beta anyway, so he couldn’t knot even if he wanted to.

 

Quirrel was ready to cry, have a breakdown, whatever, when someone finally knocked the door. Not a full body thus or scrape of metal on metal like Quirrel had been focus on for the past hours. His pulse did a leap when he heard familiar sound of needle and thread zipping through the air, and he risked unlocking the door and peaked out front the slight opening. The Hollow Knight jolted at this, scrambling to sit up and fixing themself.

 

No sight of other bugs except for Hornet and Ghost  standing behind her, holding some sort of bottles containing thick blue liquid in their chubby arms. Quirrel silently prayed those were suppression because boy did he and the big buddy over there needed it.

 

“It’s clear. We had have alphas locked up in isolation chamber, things will go back to normal in a few more hours.” She promptly started, sentences directed and curt without hesitation as always and it assured him like nothing else. 

 

But when she inhaled and let out a shaky breathe then a low growl, Quirrel immediately on alert again. It took him a second to recognize she was growling at him. Her mating mark on his neck ached at the sound and he shivered slightly, left hand clutched at his nail. “How will we get out?”

 

Breathed in and exhaled, steadier this time. “You and I will go ahead and guard them, clear the road. Ghost will lead them to somewhere else. We have… some assistances.” Hornet fidgeted, free hand gripping the helm of her cloak as her legs shifting awkwardly as if wanting to bolt away. Or coming in.

 

Given her gamma status and how similar an omega scent to a delta, it wasn’t hard to guess how it was affecting her. Quirrel surprised that she could rein herself in for this long.

 

Ghost tried to nudged past Hornet when Hornet spoke and crossed the room without hesitation. She cleared her throat and motioned for him to follow, claws plucking two bottle  _ which Quirrel still hoped was suppression  _ from Ghost’s grasp before they go. The pill bug froze, hesitated. The Hollow Knight was still in the room, unmoving since the Gendered Child had appeared, their scent letting out clear wary signals as if confused.

 

Given how similar it was between an alpha and a delta, Quirrel supposed he understood where the confusion came from. Omega mating scent could affect the delta like what of a gamma, but while delta could smell like an alpha, their scent pheromones didn’t benefit omegas like how alphas did.

 

The Hollow Knight flinched when Ghost stood directly in front of them, reaching out to their snout. Quirrel immediately went on alert, hand inclined to reach for his nail handle as his beta protective instinct flared up when the apparent omega tense. The pill bug paused when Hornet reached out to wrap her hand around his wrist, stopping him. Her delta scent up close is intoxicating and comforting to him.

 

Hornet narrowed her eyes at him and whispered: “Pack mate.”

 

Quirrel blinked, letting out a soft “oh” when the phrase hit him. He had wandered for too long to remember what it like to have a pack beside his most recent and broken one, having those who you can count on no matter what. 

 

Quirrel wandered his eyes to Ghost standing in front of their sibling who looked like they’d been dragged through a brush and backward. They putted on their cloak again but the fabric was crunch and loosely hanging around their slime shoulders and they were tense up like they were afraid of how indecent they look, or of several presences in the room. They relaxed though when Ghost reached out to pet their head and knees, immediately recognized their sibling dull and scentless smell resembling to what of a child. The Hollow Knight nuzzled their snout against their sibling palm, mind echoed “sibling, pack, safe”.

 

Hornet tugged on him wrist and both of them head out, Quirrel mimic what Hornet did. 

 

“Where will Ghost will take them to?” Quirrel asked ten minutes land a bottle of suppression later when both of them were perching on a steel gate, watching the siblings hurrying through the street below. One was a size of a grub, their small finger warping around their sibling too big palm, who was slowly trailing behind, trying not to trip on their own feet as slick was still dripping down their legs. The rain and humid air helped in masking their scent, hiding what they are to the world. 

 

“Hibernation chamber, near the Blue Lake.” She answered, standing vigilant as always now she didn’t affect by omega hormones anymore. “The lake mist nature ability will be able to cover the Hollow Knight scent and keep them safe. Both of them will stay there for awhile before help comes.”

 

“What help?”

 

More hesitate, voice lowered. “The Grimm Troupe.”

 

Quirrel startled, looking at Hornet for a bit more before shifting his gaze to the disappearing  figures from the distances. So they had to reach out to that shady troupe huh. That also explained where those suppression came from.

 

Hornet continued an hour later, when they were freeing all the alphas in the isolation chamber and explaining the situation to them. “We have to conduct an investigation on this.”

 

“The fact that apparently vessels can have caste?”

 

“That and where for them to stay in the meantime. Hallownest is still recovering from the plague and suddenly having an omega walking among them once again after too many years of having a suppressing force on their mind can spell disaster.”

 

“...You want to have them stay with Grimm.”

 

“With Grimm’s knowledge and influences, it’s safer for them that way.”

 

“Grimm Troupe consists of alphas and betas only-”

 

“And they know how to deal with their instinct. Bounded to the contract as they are.” She said, agitate before soften her voice. “Also as much as I distrust Grimm, he’s a man of honor and stay true to his words. They’ll be ok.”

 

Quirrel frown. “Also, about three hundreds bugs saw them go into heat. There’s nothing we can do to prevent the new from spreading like wildfire even when all of us try our best.”

 

“We’ll think of something.”

 

“...Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” Replied Quirrel, corners of his eyes crinkled up. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to make it sounds like I don’t trust you.”

 

She only gave him a playful huff in return.

 

Quirrel wanted to ask how could she know so much about the troupe and and sort of agreement they had agreed on, but ops to stay silent for now. Decided to study about the Hollow Knight nature and how they came to be.

 

Now he settled for damage control and on Hornet’s comforting scent instead. Mind far away from the lingering sweet scent in the air.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Meant to be a oneshot. Got *a little* out of hands about 1k words in and I'm going to die because LONG FIC IS HARD DAMNIT BUT I WANNA EXPLORE THIS SYSTEM I DEVELOPED-
> 
> Maybe I should post a compendium about this ABO system? Maybe I should.
> 
> And to be honest, if anyone can stick with me and this top tier shit to the end then I'll be grateful while looking at your with disappointment in my eyes because u could've stop me but you won't-


End file.
